Team FHSI
by Ant-Moose
Summary: This story is a RWBY story that follows a team of OC's created by me and my friends. Which means that I won't be following the story very closely, especially throughout volume 4 if I get that far. That also means I will be adjusting the story a little bit to incorporate the team. Feel free to leave a review, I do accept polite criticism. Let's go.
1. FHSI 1

**Alright. I'm gonna be honest, I don't know what I'm doing here. This story is a RWBY story that follows a team of OC's created by me and my friends. Which means that I won't be following the story very closely, especially throughout volume 4 if I get that far. That also means I will be adjusting the story a little bit to incorporate the team. Feel free to leave a review, I do accept **_**polite **_**criticism. Let's go.**

The great hall was filled with the sound of eager huntsman-to-be's chattering, but to Falcon, the only noise that was necessary was the scratching of the pencil on his notebook. He sat leant against a wall, a notepad in his lap, hard at work drawing. The hall of beacon was massive and the roof was high above him as he was sitting, though since he was only 5'10, it would make little difference if he stood or sat. Taking a couple second break from sketching, he adjusted the beret on his head, scratching his hair as he did so. It was scruffy, a style betraying it's regal silver only a white sleeveless shirt and long black pants, he looked quite relaxed, and indeed he was. Sketching was a hobby he'd picked up over time and he loved it. It was great how he could just forget about the world around him and lose himself in his work. However, the world didn't exactly leave him alone as he would've liked, as was soon to be proven. He was so immersed in his drawing, he failed to notice a figure walking towards him and he only realised their presence when they were standing right in front of him.

"So, this is Beacon," the figure said in a tone of admiration. "It's quite the sight, isn't it?"

Falcon didn't look up but mentally kicked himself for letting his guard down. Treading cautiously, as was his instinct around new people, Falcon formed a response. "'Tis, but not quite as beautiful as those in Atlas."

"Can't say I've seen those, not much of a traveller," the stranger replied in a more relaxed sounding tone. Falcon looked up at the stranger standing over him, he was much taller than Falcon, maybe 6"1. He had slicked back black hair and wore a black trench coat that went down to his knees and grey jeans. Under his trench coat, there was a plain navy blue shirt. But what interested Falcon the most was what was resting on the stranger's hip. A long sheath with a trigger, most likely housing a katana. Despite being armed, the man's demeanor was relaxed, his arms hanging loosely by his side, completely untensed. Admittedly, one of his hands was still close to the sheath, but Falcon chose to ignore that. This wasn't the body language of a man who meant harm. After realizing this stranger wasn't a threat, Falcon shifted over slightly to allow the stranger room to sit and then continued flipping pages in his notebook. The stranger took a seat next to Falcon, nodding in thanks for the invitation. He took the sheath of his belt and laid in across his lap, still clutching it with one hand. As the two sat in silence for a while, Falcon noticed the stranger absentmindedly fiddle and adjust the sheath, mainly around the trigger mechanism. It intrigued him, but he said nothing. After a few seconds, the stranger spoke again.

"What's that you're drawing there?" he asked. Falcon glanced at the man sitting next to him awkwardly before turning back to his notebook.

"Oh uh.. Y'know, just revising some old weapon designs."

"Oh really? Can I see?" asked the stranger. Falcon gingerly handed over the notebook. His hands then started to fidget unbeknownst to him, because they had nothing to do.

"These are impressive,.. Uh, I'm not sure I got your name?" the stranger said, implying a question as he handed back Falcon's notebook.

"Hood, Falcon Hood." Replied Falcon. "You?"

"Hayate Blacksteel. Nice meeting you Falcon," Hayate said as he extended a hand out to Falcon, which Falcon met with his own.

"You come here alone?" Hayate asked curiously.

"Yeah, but there are a few faces I recognise." Answered Falcon. "Like them." He gestured to two girls, a short black haired girl and a taller blonde, talking to another black haired girl who looked like she just wanted to be left alone to read her book. Hayate's gaze wandered over to the pair of girls, seemingly amused by their antics.

"Oh you know them?" Asked Hayate. "The blonde, Yang right? I saw her earlier, but the other one seems a bit young don't you think?"

"Ruby? Yeah she's only 15, got accepted early. That's Ozpin for you." Falcon responded before turning his attention back to his notebook. Hayate stood up.

"Must be nice to have a familiar face in this crowd" he said casually before glancing back at Falcon. "Well, big day tomorrow. See you around Falcon." Falcon responded with a simple nod.

"See you in the forest I guess."

"Yeah." Hayate replied, then chuckled to himself. "That's if those girls haven't torn the place down by then," he joked, nodding to Yang and Ruby who were now getting lectured by a white haired girl. Falcon gave a look of disgust when his eyes rested on her, which nobody saw, before adjusting his beret and continuing on with his sketch.

It wasn't long before Falcon was joined by Ruby and Yang again. Falcon had an interesting relationship with the sisters, having met the two at Signal Academy and decided to continue on to Beacon with them both. Despite their antics, they were good friends of his, the only familiar faces in the hall of strangers.

"Gods she is so mean!" exclaimed Ruby. Falcon put his notebook down.

"It goes well.. with your pajamas? Really?" quizzed Falcon. Yang rolled her eyes.

"Hey! At least I'm trying to make friends" she snapped in response..

"I have you two, and that guy over..." Falcon trailed off, looking around for his newly found friend. "There." He pointed at Hayate.

"Wow, not bad looking.." Started Yang, staring at Hayate.

"Alright, time for bed!" By the time Falcon had turned to look at her, Ruby was already asleep.


	2. FHSI 2

**Chapter 2**

The time had arrived. Falcon stood at the face of a cliff, along with plenty of other students, waiting. But for what? Falcons mind raced, trying to focus on one thing at a time. It didn't help that he had been rudely awakened by an obnoxiously loud red haired girl that morning. And now, as the students next to him were launched into the forest beneath him, he was starting to get nauseous. He looked to his right and saw a blonde haired boy rambling to Professor Ozpin about a landing strategy, and then to his left, a somewhat familiar face, Hayate. He was getting into position, his right hand on the hilt of his sword, the soft wind blowing his coat behind him. And then he was gone. "_Alright Falcon, this is you" _he thought to himself as he got into position himself, bracing for the launch... and then he went., feeling the cold brush his face as he soared through the air towards the sky, thankful that his beret had stayed on. As quickly as he had gone up, he felt his body start to descend. He took his staff, Avery, into his left hand and used it to hook onto a stray tree branch before levering his body into a backflip and landing with both feet on the ground. "_Not bad Falcon_" he thought to himself as he brushed the dirt off himself. "_Now to find a partner and avoid Grimm"._

As he wandered through the forest, Falcon could hear the sounds of other students around him. He wondered whether he should head towards them or not, but opted to be found by someone else, just incase-

"Damn it!" Falcon muttered under his breath. He had been shuffling through some bushes when he caught sight of another student. Wiess Schnee. She hadn't seen him yet. _Good._ If there was one person he didn't want to be on a team with, it was Wiess Schnee. Or any Schnee for that matter. Falcon jumped at the feeling of someone's hand on his shoulder, he looked over and saw Hayate staring down at him.

"Hey, long time no see Falcon! Sorry for the surprise" Hayate greeted, in his apparently normal tone.

"N-no. It's f-fine." was the reply Falcon managed to stutter out. "_Again?! How can I be so careless?"_ Falcon mentally kicked himself again.

"So... I guess we're partners now?" questioned Hayate.

"So it would seem." Falcon adjusted his beret. He studied Hayate's appearance. It had changed since the last time they had seen each other, though not by a lot. He was wearing more combat suited clothing and had a metal bracer on his right forearm. However, his expression was still almost as casual as ever, if only slightly more tense.

"We should get moving," stated Hayate, his hand on the hilt of his sword, "Better find those relics before the monsters come to play."

As the two neared a clearing, Falcon heard the sound of struggling and stopped walking.

"What is it?" questioned Hayate.

Falcon looked at Hayate, "Someone is fighting Grimm nearby."

"No idea what you're hearing, but I'll follow your lead." Hayate stepped aside and waved his hand, gesturing for Falcon to take the lead. Falcon started heading towards the noises. As the two pushed their way through the shrubbery they found the source of the sounds. Two students, both male fighting a huge deathstalker. Falcon wanted to study the two strangers' appearances, but became suddenly aware of how badly the two needed their help. He turned behind him, but his partner was already gone. Hayate leapt into the face of battle and started slashing at the deathstalker's armor. Falcon followed suit, taking Avery off its hilt, however, choosing to stay out of range of the creature, he converted Avery into its bow form, watching as the dust casings at both ends of the bow used hard light dust to create a string for the arrows in the quiver on his back. Falcon shot a total of eleven arrows at the deathstalker before it became agitated towards him. Realising he was in danger, he equipped a different arrow and shot it at a tree and was pulled towards the tree and out of the creatures way. While he sat up there, catching his breath, Falcon watched Hayate fight one of the pincers the creature had. His skill was remarkable, his slashes were incredibly precise and fast, like he never once lost control of his blade or the movement behind it.

"Hey! Arrow Man!" Falcon was shaken out of his thoughts by the taller stranger shouting at him and then pointing at a tree opposite himself. Falcon nodded understandingly and shot an arrow at the tree. The arrow left behind a trail of hard light that the tall stranger jumped up to and then started swinging around. Before Falcon could figure out what he was doing, he had flown off the wire at the apex of his swing and launched himself into the air. Falcon noticed him touching something on his forearm before coming back down on the Grimm. Hard. He had hit the creature with so much force he had gone straight through it.

"Ha, not bad" complimented Hayate, sticking his hand out to the taller of the two. As the tall one went to grasp it, small trails of electricity ran off his fingertips.

"Iskandar Pharanx" He replied as he shook Hayate's hand. "That is Syrian Lique," Iskanadr pointed to the other stranger, who just waved quietly. "I presume the two of you have names?" asked Iskandar rather bluntly.

"Hayate Blacksteel, good to meet you." All eyes went to Falcon who snapped out of his trance almost immediately. He had been studying the two strangers that stood before him, something of a habit he'd picked up. Iskandar was very tall but not muscular at all, only broad shouldered. His hair was swept to the left and was very long on that side, but what he had on the inside of his right forearm was rather interesting. It seemed, to Falcon, to be a sort of device to infuse dust. "_But into what?"_ Falcon had thought to himself. The other stranger, Syrian, was a lot more muscular than his partner. He stood at roughly the same height as Hayate and was wearing some very formal clothing. Under his armor he had a shirt and tie and on his back, a sledgehammer, which Falcon had seen in a shotgun formation of sorts earlier.

"I'm Falcon, Falcon Hood." Falcon muttered with a nod, before adjusting his beret.

"Well then," Started Hayate, "now that we're all friends here, how about we keep moving?." Falcon rolled his eyes a little. Did he ever take anything seriously?

"Syrian saw a temple of sorts before we were attacked by that Grimm." Iskandar said.

"Alright then," Said Hayate, once again stepping aside, this time for Syrian. "Lead the way."


	3. FHSI 3

**Alright we back. This chapter is two days late and I'm sorry, I had work. The next chapter will be out.. honestly I'm not sure, but I promise to get into a weekly upload schedule that actually works. Probably.**

As the four of them walked through the forest Falcon started to hear the sounds of a fight. He glanced at the others and they didn't seem to be bothered by it. _Then again, Hayate never seems bothered by anything._ Falcon thought to himself. Or maybe they just couldn't hear it? Before Falcon could say anything, Iskandar spoke up.

"Do you hear that?"

"Yeah," Hayate replied. "Sounds like someone's in trouble." He rolled his shoulders and rested his hand on his sheath yet again. "About time we got a bit more excitement" he added. Falcon regarded this with mild curiosity. If Hayate was ready for a fight, wouldn't he have a hand on his handle ready to draw his sword, instead of just the sheath? He internally shook his head, snapping himself out of this analytical state.

"Come on then" Falcon said as he ran towards the noise, with Hayate, Syrian and Iskandar following close behind.

As the four reached a clearing, they saw eight other huntsmen. Falcon recognized Ruby and Yang and could make out one of them as the girl they were hassling last night. "We should help them." Hayate said, pulling Falcon out of his trance.

"There's a bridge over there," replied Iskandar, pointing past Falcon.

"Let's head over there then," started Hayate. He was cut off by a nevermove screeching overhead. The four of them stood on the cliff face and watched as a series of glyphs were created and a flash of red flew over them before tearing the nevermores head off. As the dust and roses settled, a familiar hooded figure stood in front of the four. Hayate regarded them with interest, slowly taking his hand off of his sheath as it was clear that this stranger wasn't a threat.

"Woah. That was pretty impressive." Hayate complimented, eyes slightly widened by the feat he had just witnessed. "You're Ruby, right?"

"Yup, that's me." she giggled. "Falcon! Why didn't I see you this morning?"

"I left early." Falcon replied, adjusting his beret. He failed to notice Hayate's curious glance at his adjusting, but the swordsman said nothing.

Before long, the five students had made their way down the cliff face and had regrouped with the other seven. The four were introduced to Blake and Wiess, then Hayate was properly introduced to Ruby and Yang.

A tall redhead stepped forward. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos" she said, introducing herself. Falcon glanced over at Hayate who was regarding her with new interest.

"Pyrrha Nikos? Champion fighter, right?" he asked, offering his hand to her. "I'm Hayate, good to meet you". Pyrrha smiled his way before accepting his offered handshake.

"It certainly is a pleasure Hayate" she said.

"Somebody is fanboying." came from the shorter redhead. She seemed overly energetic and carried a grenade launcher on her back.

"You'll have to excuse Nora." stated the taller black haired boy next to her. "I'm Ren."

"Jaune Arc." Falcon was once again snapped out of his state of studying others by a hand being extended to him. Jaune was taller than Falcon, and had long blonde hair. A sword rested in a sheath on his hip.

"Falcon Hood." Falcon shook Jaune's hand. He saw Hayate glance over.

"You've got a sword as well huh?" he commented at Jaune. "Keeping it simple, I like it." he elaborated. Jaune rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

"Uh, thanks Hayate" he said, not too sure what to think of the guy.

"We believe we know where to find what we're looking for" stated Pyrrha.

"So do we" replied Iskandar, sounding almost competitive.

"So then what are we waiting for?!" Nora was bouncing up and down on the spot where she stood. "Let's go already!"

As the twelve of them walked through the forest, it became apparent to Falcon that there was a Schnee present. _Everything will be fine,_ he thought to himself as he adjusted his beret yet again. _There's other people here. Just don't get left alone with her._

"Hey," Falcon jumped and looked over at Hayate. "You alright? You seem out of it" he asked, mild concern in his tone.

"I'm fine. Thank you Hayate" Falcon replied, then adjusted his beret again. This time, Falcon noticed Hayate's curious glance but thought nothing of it.

After a while, the twelve huntsmen in training came to a sort of temple, with huge chess pieces on podiums.

"I guess we just take one?" Hayate wondered out loud. Yang was already eyeing a knight piece. "Ohh yeah, this one's mine." she exclaimed. Falcon looked over at Hayate, who was watching Syrian lose a tug of war over a bishop with Iskandar in amusement. Hayate then looked at Falcon and shrugged.

"Take your pick." Falcon said. He then watched Hayate walk over and grab a Knight, similar to Yangs.

The twelve regrouped again, with each pair holding a chess piece.

"I guess we should head back?" asked Ruby.

"Not that I don't love this forest of imminent death, but I'm about ready to leave" Hayate agreed sarcastically, causing an eye-roll from Falcon and a snigger from Yang.

_Her sense of humour was always below average. _Falcon thought with fond irritation.

Falcon stood off stage, waiting nervously. Professor Ozpin was calling upon four students at a time and assigning them to a team. Falcon wouldn't mind being on a team with Yang and Ruby, or even just one of them. Hayate wasn't happy that Pyrrha was on a team without him and that Jaune Arc of all people had gotten team leader.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long." started Ozpin. "You four will be known as team RWBY."

_Well damn it. _Thought Falcon. _There goes my chances of having good teammates. Well, there is still one other". _Despite his disappointment, which he noticed was somewhat shared by his partner, Falcon turned his attention back to Ozpin.

"Falcon Hood, Hayate Blacksteel, Syrian Lique, Iskandar Pharanx." The four of them walked up on stage. "The four of you will be known as team FHSI." stated Ozpin. **[A/N: it's pronounced fuchsia for those wondering, looks like ****this.****]**

Team FHSI walked towards the dorm they had been given with one thing on each of their minds. What next? _The four of us hardly know each other,_ thought Falcon _There has to be exercises to build our team strength that we can do._ As they walked into the dorm, Hayate spoke up.

"Right, first order of business, whose bed is whose?"

"Perhaps going in our team order is a good idea?" Answered Falcon, receiving quizzical looks from his teammates. Falcon sighed.

"Me, Hayate, Syrian, Iskandar." He said, pointed to each bed, left to right, as he said each name.

"Sure" said Hayate, shrugging as he did. Iskandar and Syrian exchanged approving looks with each other, but said nothing. As the four of them unpacked, there was a knock on the door. Iskandar opened it and Falcon heard a familiar voice start to speak, "Hi, we're from just down the hall so we thought we'd come say hello to our neighb-" then a flash of red flew across the room before knocking over Falcon and Hayate both. As Falcon's world stopped spinning he saw Ruby sitting on top of him speaking, but he wasn't sure what she was saying because of the ringing in his ears.

"-so good to see you again! And we're both team leaders! That's so cool!" Falcon's hearing had come back and he managed a "good to see you to Rubes" before pushing the smaller girl off his abdomen. While this was happening, Hayate noticed Ruby hadn't come alone. There was an older, black haired girl standing in the doorway, who Hayate remembered was Blake.

"It's Blake, right?" Hayate asked. She looked up at him and nodded her head. "I'm Hayate." He said, extending an arm. Blake shook it before finally speaking up.

"We should get going Ruby, we all have a big day tomorrow." Ruby had already been properly introduced to Iskandar and Syrian and had taken to wrestling Falcon, who was still on the ground.

"Aww really?" She whined.

"I'll see you tomorrow Ruby, don't forget." Falcon reminded her. Ruby stood up, said goodbye to everyone and then left to her own dorm with Blake.

"They're an interesting group." commented Iskandar, Syrian nodding in agreement beside him.

"Wouldn't mind running into them again. They're cool" added Hayate, seeming a bit more interested than usual. Now it was Falcons turn to nod in agreement.

"I call the first use of the shower!" Falcon exclaimed, but was cut short by Syrian racing past him into the bathroom and locking the door behind him.

**A/N:Thank you everyone who's read the story so far, I'm glad you're liking it.**

**I want to just shoutout DestructorBolt, another writer on the site and a friend of mine for helping me with editing some parts of this story. Also, "Hayate Blacksteel" belongs to him too. So if you see any of his work with him in it, don't worry.**


	4. FHSI 4

**A/N: for something different I have decided that for this chapter, we will see things from Hayates point of view**

_A morning person, I am not…_ was the first thought of a sleepy Hayate Blacksteel as he rose from his bed. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he reached out his hand and grabbed the sheath that contained his sword, Jestream, his most treasured possession, reassuring himself that it was still there. It was something he did every morning, and if anyone on his team thought it odd, they didn't question it. As he went about his morning routine, Hayate allowed himself a few minutes of reflection. It had been a few weeks since the forming of team FHSI, and he'd found his teammates to be quite an interesting bunch. Falcon, his partner, was quite intriguing. He was quiet, alert, and was almost annoyingly observant. He seemed to be on edge, watching everything. If Hayate was less mature, he'd make a joke about Falcon checking out the ladies. He also seemed to pay way too much attention to his beret, adjusting it all the time. _Everyone has a fashion sense_ Hayate thought in response to himself, justifying his partners hat choice. As Hayate went about his morning stretches in silence, paying little attention to the movements of his teammates around him, he thought about Iskandar, the big silent member of the team. Shortly after beginning to think about him, he stopped. Hayate didn't know a lot of him. During the last few weeks, he hadn't talked to him much and when he did, it was only necessary replies to Hayate, not social chitchat. Syrian was quite different from the rest, he would keep to himself quite a bit, but after a week he started interacting with the others. To Hayate's surprise, they actually shared a common interest, that being stargazing. Since Hayate had grown up on a small island off of the coast of Vale, he had a great view of the night sky and constellations there, and would often spend time stargazing after a hard day of training. He'd discovered that Syrian shared this interest after absentmindedly pointing out a star sign one night and having his teammate correct him on what it was. What started as a small disagreement turned into a conversation and kickstarted what could be considered their friendship.. _So I have an overly jumpy yet dependable partner, a very lanky half-mute, and a fellow stargazer. What a combo_. Even so, he couldn't complain too much. Despite half of their team not being very sociable, they were good in combat. Their teamwork was commendable, and Hayate couldn't really blame that. After all, he was a big believer in communicating through battle, and the whole team had met during a fight, so it was little wonder that they worked so well at this. As he finished, he noticed that Iskandar was just leaving the dorm and Syrian was close behind. Falcon looked in his direction and gestured towards the door, silently asking Hayate if he was ready to leave. The answering shrug seemed to satisfy the team leader and they left together. The two had managed to achieve a sort of "wordless communication system" between the team as well. It worked well in battle, giving them the element of surprise in team sparring, though it did remove some more social interactions. The partners walked in silence, Hayate being left to his thoughts. He cared about his team, he did, but he just wished that he felt a real connection to them.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Lunch was an interesting experience to say the least as it was almost every day. Morning classes had been relatively fine, so Hayate and his team entered the cafeteria in mildly good spirits. Despite his relative lack of social connections with his team, he got along well with the majority of both team RWBY and JNPR, and they were a fun lot to be around. Hayate watched in amusement as Ren tried and failed at stopping Nora from stuffing more pancakes into her mouth. Glancing around, he noticed Falcon aiming up two grapes, both in one hand, in line with an awaiting Yang and Ruby. With precision, he tossed the grapes and the sisters both immediately caught and ate them with their mouths, sharing a high five afterwards. Hayate chuckled at this. His amusement stopped when Falcon quickly tensed and glanced at him, though his partner relaxed when he saw that it was only Hayate watching him. The young Blacksteel frowned at this, he was hoping that, seeing as it had been a few weeks, Falcon would be a little more relaxed about him. "Hello everyone!" Hayate glanced over at the newcomer to the table, Pyrrha Nikos. His lips twitched upwards at her arrival. Over the time he'd known her, Hayate had grown pretty fond of the Mistralian champion. Her skill in battle was amazing, something that was already a plus one in his book, but her attitude was something else.

_She is so nice, so down to earth, _He thought to himself, reflecting on his new friend. _She isn't an arrogant tournament chump._ She was strong in more ways than one, and Hayate valued that greatly.

"Hey Pyrrha" emanated from the teams as they collectively greeted her. She took a seat next to Hayate, sitting between him and Jaune. Hayate's thoughts were mixed on that guy. He'd seen Jaune fight, and it was quite tragic. The kid was so far out of his league it wasn't funny. However, despite that, he was still fighting. He still tried, despite the fact he stood almost no chance. There was something admirable in that, and Hayate couldn't help but hold some respect for the kid. Everyone resumed doing what they were doing prior to her arrival, but Pyrrha then turned to Hayate.

"So, Hayate, I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me to the arena for a sparring match later?" she asked. Hayate grinned, he'd been wanting to test his skills against her pretty much ever since he'd met her. He'd made it a mini-goal of his to spar with pretty much everybody, and while he'd already clashed with Falcon, Syrian and to a lesser extent Iskandar, he was keen to train against a world renowned fighter.

"Thought you'd never ask. Sounds good" he replied, making no secret of his excitement. However, his mood was quickly ruined by an unwelcome, yet necessary comment.

"You know you can't be sparring, you have homework to do," said Falcon. "And studying. We have a test coming up for Oobleck's class." The mention of a test made Jaune's eyes widen, which went unnoticed by all except Falcon, who placed a hand on his shoulder. Hayate groaned in irritation.

"Come on, I can still fit in a few rounds with Pyrrha and make it back in time to study for whatever it is I need to learn" he complained, only to see Falcons eyes narrow in mild annoyance. One thing that had become abundantly clear throughout their time together is that, despite their friendship and partnership, Falcon and himself were very different. Falcon was cautious at every moment, focused on his work and quiet, everything Hayate was not. The carefree nature of the Blacksteel had been a conversation point a few times now and he was rather sick of the lectures.

"Hayate, do you want to pass Ooblecks test or not?" Falcon asked again and Hayate rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Fine, fine. I'll revise. Buzzkill" he grumbled before turning to Pyrrha apologetically. "Sorry, looks like we'll have to postpone our match until later".

"It's alright. It's nice that Falcon looks out for you like that." Pyrrha replied as politely as ever, despite the brief flash of disappointment he'd seen on her face. Hayate appreciated how Falcon kept him a little more focused, he'd have likely failed three different tests if he didn't, but damn if it didn't get annoying from time to time. He knew that his partner was ultimately right, but it didn't make it fun to study.

_I've had enough lecturing about that for a lifetime._ He complained internally, thinking back to his days at his home. His mother was quite the focused type, trying to make Hayate dedicate his life to his studies, his training and to stamp out his easy going nature. Needless to say, it hadn't worked, largely thanks to his father, but it wasn't a fun memory. He absentmindedly rubbed his forearm as he thought about these memories, then moved his hand to his sword hilt, the familiar weight providing some comfort. "I promise to find time for it though," he added, finally replying to Pyrrha. She smiled and nodded, and that was that.

"Falcon!" Nora said loudly, causing the two to look over at them quickly. "Didn't your mother tell you it's not polite to wear hats at the table?" she teased.

"Didn't yours teach you not to eat with your mouth full?" Falcon retorted, going to adjust his beret. Hayate rolled his eyes.

"Give me a break" he muttered at their antics, though this did add more to his curiosity about Falcons hat. After all, he'd never seen Falcon without it, he seemed as attached to his beret as much as Hayate was to his sword. Sadly, team JNPR had to leave early for classes, so team FHSI and team RWBY just relaxed for the rest of their lunch break.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Sadly, the rest of their break wasn't peaceful. Just as he was about to take a bite of a cookie that he'd managed to hide from Ruby, Hayate heard sounds of pain coming from across the cafeteria. He glanced over, as did his team, and his mood soured. He saw a faunus girl currently getting her rabbit ears pulled by Beacons resident dickhead, Cardin Winchester. He was laughing as he tugged on the girls ears, taking clear pleasure in her discomfort. This wasn't the only terrible thing he'd done, Jaune was a target for his antics from the day the teams were formed, and quite frankly, Hayate was sick of all of it. He silently rose from his seat, drawing looks from everyone at the table.

"Hayate..." Falcon warned, probably beginning a speech about how acting recklessly wasn't a smart move and that they should act rationally, but Hayate's hearing conveniently stopped working at that point as he made his way over to Cardin, for better or worse. He casually walked up to the leader of team CRDL who had noticed Hayate's approach, released the girls ears and walked over to the approaching swordsman.

"Hey. You're being a dick" Hayate said matter-of-factly, keeping his stance, voice and expression very relaxed. Cardin snorted.

"You got a problem?" he asked, his tone dripping with swag and underlying annoyance. Hayate smirked.

"I do. It's standing right in front of me… and it's ugly" he snarked in response with a smirk as Cardin's gaze narrowed.

"You're just asking for a beating" he warned, cracking his knuckles. Despite Hayate's height at 6'1, Cardin was still a few inches taller and he was still more muscular. Team RWBY and the F,S, and I of FHSI watched in anticipation of what would happen, Falcon looking nervously apprehensive at his partners potential screw up. Cardin wasn't exactly weak.

"If I wanted to get beat up, I would've chosen someone capable" Hayate replied nonchalantly, shifting his right foot in front of his left, widening his stance almost unnoticeably, but leaving his hands down by his side. Cardin frowned even further and took a step closer to Hayate.

"Say sorry, or you'll be sorry." Cardin threatened simply. At this, Hayate's expression turned a little more serious.

"You apologise to the girl, and maybe I'll think about it." He replied in a far more focused tone, straightening his stance and moving a hand to the sheath of Jetstream on his belt, wrapping his hand around a mechanism attached to it. At Cardin's snort of arrogance, Hayate's grin returned to his face. He placed his finger on the trigger present on his sheath and squeezed it, shooting the sword out of the sheath like a bullet. Before Cardin could so much as blink, the hilt of the sword smashed into his chin, sending him flying into the air. As he fell to the ground, the sword lost its momentum, Hayate held out his hand and the sword gained a barely noticeable silver glow around it. Jetstream changed direction, flying back to Hayates hand and he caught it with ease. He chuckled at the shocked expressions on Cardins face, and the face of his team. He gave Jetstream a few casual twirls, then sheathed it with ease.

"You…" Cardin groaned before slumping again, shocked by the attack. His aura had protected him from most of the attack, but being launched about 15 feet in the air by being shot by a sword hilt directly in the chin would stun anybody.

"So, I'll be expecting that apology to the girl soon. Maybe throw in some chocolates and flowers" Hayate called out cheerfully as he walked back over to his table and sat down like nothing had ever happened. He noticed the stunned expressions on the faces of RWBY, Falcon and Syrian, and glanced up with curiosity. "What?"

"You just… He…Flying..." Ruby struggled to form words, making mimey actions representing him shooting his sword and Cardin going flying. He laughed at her motions, finding it pretty adorable. He took the sheath off his belt and placed it on the table, motioning to the sheath and the sword firing mechanism.

"I forgot to mention" he started, moving his hand over the trigger without pulling it. "It's also a gun".

**I'd like to thank you, the reader, for reading and a good friend of mine for writing and editing a large part of this chapter. cheers**


	5. FHSI 5

**Alright first fight scene of the story. This is another long chapter so strap in.**

It was roughly midday on a Saturday and team FHSI's dorm was very quiet. Iskandar had left about an hour ago to spar with Yang in the arena and Syrian left earlier in the morning to meditate. That left Falcon and Hayate alone together. While Falcon quietly sketched a new weapon, Hayate sat slumped over at his desk. He was meant to be doing schoolwork as Falcon had instructed but he was struggling. Falcon was sure that if Hayate tried, he'd get through his work easily. The only problem is that he didn't try enough. Hayate would much rather be out fighting someone or something, a mindset that Falcon wasn't too fond of and he made that clear to Hayate. It was their most common argument, one that they would likely have many more times. But Falcon had noticed Hayate's bored state and, after a lot of contemplation as to what this might to do the teams overall grade, decided to let Hayate finish up and go spar in the arena. Falcon closed his sketchbook.

"Hayate." Hayate stirred before turning to his leader. "You've been at it for a while, why don't we head to the sparring arena?"

"About time! I thought you'd never give me a break!" Hayate had already packed up his books and had grabbed Jetstream from where it had been sitting next to his desk. He never let the thing get more than a couple metres away from him, Falcon had seen it resting by his bedside while he slept. Falcon grabbed his staff, Avery, and headed for the door, with Hayate following behind, looking roughly 20 times more excited than he had a few moments ago.

**X-X-X-X-X**

When the duo got to the arena Jaune and Pyrrha were already there, Blake was there too, obviously waiting for Yang. Pyrrha seemed to just be training Jaune, and not actually trying to fight him, just set up situations for him. Pyrrha noticed the two walk in and finished with Jaune.

"Hello Hayate, hello Falcon." she said cheerfully.

"Hey Pyrrha. You up for that sparring match now?" asked Hayate, his hand on Jetstreams sheath which Falcon now knew was called Blitz. Even though they were teammates, it was a bit awkward to stand opposite Hayate in a conversation nowadays after the revelation that he could shoot his sword, and he nearly always had his hand near the trigger.

"Certainly." she replied. Falcon watched Jaune wander out of the arena towards where Blake was sitting and decided to join them.

"Hey Jaune, hey Blake." he said, taking a seat next to them.

"Oh hey Falcon" they replied in unison.

"So where's Ren and Nora?" Falcon asked Jaune as he watched Hayate square up with Pyrhha.

"I think they went out this morning to meditate with Syrian. Nora didn't seem too happy about the early start." Falcon didn't reply. He was eager to see Hayate fight. He had obviously seen Hayate fight before, they had been on missions together. But this was different, this is Pyrrha Nikos, a champion fighter, and Falcon was eager to analyze both Hayate's and Pyrrha's moves. _This will be my chance to see him get properly serious, and to see the champion of Mistral show her skills_, he thought with mild excitement.

They both stood in a fighting stance, Hayate's hand on Jetstream's sheath, Pyrrha with Milo in hand, shield on her back. In a flash Hayate fired Blitz, sending Jetstream soaring towards Pyrrha and then leapt at it to slash at Pyrrha in mid air. But Pyrrha was fast and dodged out of the way before landing some shots on Hayate, causing him to grimace. He turned and started blocking her attacks, however, he was swiftly overwhelmed as she was also using her shield to attack, so Hayate was trying to defend from two angles. Hayate leapt back with a slash from Jetstream, knocking Pyrrha's shield aside, before jumping back towards her and hitting her a few times before Pyrrha started overwhelming him again. It was clear that Hayate was more of an offensive fighter, defence wasn't his specialty, especially against a dual wielder like Pyrrha. This time when Hayate leapt back, he stayed back, using his sheath to shoot at Pyrrha a couple times. As they'd found out, Hayate's sheath also doubled as an actual gun, albeit a relatively close range one. Pyrrha transformed her spear into a rifle and took some pot shots at Hayate too, one of which shot Jetstream out of Hayate's hand. He glanced at his now weaponless hand and Falcon saw him clench his fist in annoyance. Pyrrha took this as an opportunity to attack, leaping towards Hayate, spear in hand. Hayate dodged and shot at Pyrrha, shooting her shield out of her hand, Pyrrha used her semblance to summon her shield back and then had an idea. She put her shield on her back and reached a hand towards Jetstream. Nothing. Hayate chuckled.

"Nice try." He then held his hand out and Jetstream flew back into it at speed.t. Pyrrha looked puzzled, but decided to question it later as she lunged towards Hayate. Hayate met her attack fiercely then began to attack harder than before, holding his ground significantly better now that he was on the attack. Pyrrha's shield let her put up an admirable defence however and the two continued to fight more or less evenly. Hayate would force Pyrrha to leap back, then shoot Jetstream at her before recalling the sword to his hand via his semblance. At one point, Hayate handed a solid kick to Pyrrha's midsection. Even though he was clearly in favour of his weapon, Hayate was no slouch in hand to hand. His punches were good, but his kicks were deadly and he threw both in with his swordplay when he had the chance. Following up from his kick, Hayate lightly tossed Jetstream up into the air, then leaned forward and placed a hand on the ground. This action was met with raised eyebrows. The young Blacksteel then threw his legs around in a sweep attack, using his hand to brace. As his kick began, Jetstream flew down and seemingly connected itself to his boot, turning his sweep kick into a wide sword slash. Pyrrha had been prepared to simply block his kick with her own leg, so the move caught her off guard and she took a hit to her calf.

_Hayate's style is quite different_, Falcon thought to himself. _He fights both with trained technique and with such unorthodox moves. A skilled combatant, yet unpredictable. No wonder he's lasted so long against a champion_, he returned his attention to the fight. Hayate then leapt back to his feet and gave a cocky smile, at which point Falcon rolled his eyes, but it was quickly replaced with a look of focus as he guarded a strike from Pyrrha and struggled against her strength, trying to push back. Eventually they leapt apart, then back at each other to continue their clashing. Despite Hayate's evident skill, Pyrrha still had the general upper hand, taking less hits than her opponent. Hayate then jumped back away from their latest clash and sheathed his sword. Falcon looked with curiosity as Hayate adopted his stance that he used when already wielding the sword. As Falcon had observed, Hayate had two distinct stances. One had his left foot slightly forward with knees bent, this was the telltale sign that he was going to shoot Jetstream from its sheath. He entered this stance whenever he fired from the hip, yet he wasn't doing it now. His stance had his right foot further forward, knees bent noticeable and it was a wider stance than his alternative one. It was how he stood when fighting, yet no sword was drawn here. What he did next pulled Falcon out of his analytical state. He raised one hand and gestured to Pyrrha in a "come at me" way, a confident smirk on his face. Falcon had seen Hayate's taunting style before. He'd get his opponent riled up so they'd be more careless in battle and drop their guard. As irritating of a strategy as it was, it had worked for Hayate before. However, Falcon never thought he'd have the audacity to use it against Pyrrha Nikos, the same woman who had basically had the upper hand for most of the fight.

"I'm partnered with an idiot" Falcon muttered, not looking forward to seeing Hayate get stomped thanks to his inability to take something seriously. Pyrrha took his challenge and leapt at him with speed. However, what came next happened so quickly that Falcon, even with his eyes, was unsure that he'd witnessed it properly. Hayate fired Jetstream, sending the sword out as he had before. However, this time he grabbed the sword as it fired and swung with it in an upwards diagonal slash from left to right. The attack was blindingly fast and with great force and Pyrrha had too much momentum to avoid the hit. Her weapon went flying out of her hands and she went tumbling backwards. Hayate remained still in his post-slash pose for a moment, then resumed his regular fighting stance, grinning in excitement. Falcon was rather shocked, Hayate had actually managed to knock Pyrrha over. Such a feat was pretty remarkable and Falcon was reminded why he valued Hayate being on his team. In terms of schoolwork, he could've done better, but in a fight he was a damned good warrior. Despite the hit, Pyrrha still had plenty of Aura left and she got to her feet quickly. She called Milo back to her hand with her semblance and engaged Hayate in combat again, but this time seemed to fight more cautiously. Hayate didn't try his quickdraw slash trick again, seemingly not having another opportunity to do so in the same manner. However, despite Hayate's best efforts, Pyrrha emerged the winner of the bout. Hayate had landed several hits, even knocked her over with his quickdraw attack, but her endurance and sheer skill had outlasted him and he'd gone down in the end after she launched him into the air and smashed him into the ground. Despite this loss, when Pyrrha helped him to his feet, Hayate was grinning. Falcon was somewhat surprised at this, he'd expected Hayate to take losing a bit harder than this.

"That was a wonderful match Hayate. You are truly a talented fighter." Pyrrha complimented as she steadied him. Hayate smiled at her praise.

"I should be saying that to you. Best fight I've ever had" he replied. "I knew you'd be good, but damn. You really are amazing Pyrrha" he added, earning a smile in return from the red haired champion. "Can we do this again sometime?" he asked, almost like a kid wanting to go on an amusement park ride again, or at least that was how Falcon interpreted it.

"That sounds lovely" Pyrrha replied cheerfully and as Hayate shakily got used to walking again, the two left the arena in good spirits.

As the two returned from the arena Pyrrha asked Hayate about his sword. "How come you were able to call your sword back when I wasn't able to control it?"

Hayate absentmindedly put his hand on the actual hilt of Jetstream "Well Pyrrha, Jetstream is made out of a rare material found only on an island southeast of Vale. It's called 'blacksteel' and my family has mined it for generations, hence my last name. All our family use weapons made of it, not just swords, but spears, shields, I think one guy made a sledgehammer once. My semblance is a hereditary one, Blacksteel Bond is what we call it. It allows me to control anything with any amount of blacksteel in it. That's how I did those crazy moves back there, and how I recall my sword back to my hand" he explained keenly. Weapons were a subject that he did take great interest in, as Falcon had heard plenty of talks like this in the time he'd known him, largely when he and Ruby would be geeking out together. This was new information to Falcon, he hadn't realized that Hayate's semblance allowed him to control one specific type of metal. _Perhaps blacksteel arrows would be a worthy investment._

"So I guess I can't control blacksteel then" commented Pyrrha. Her polarity semblance gave her a large advantage in most spars seeing as she could control the opponents weapons if it were metal.

"Guess not, makes things more interesting" Hayate replied. "So Falcon, hope you enjoyed the show. I guess it's your turn to get out there, right?" Hayate asked as he turned to the man in question Falcon looked confused, he was only there to spectate, and would much rather not fight unless absolutely necessary.

"I think I'll pass." said Falcon wearily. "Plus, I don't have anyone to spar."

"I'll do it." Falcon turned to see Blake next to him. He let out a sigh.

"Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen you fight Falcon." stated Pyrrha, Jaune nodding in agreement.

"You're in for a pretty good time." said Hayate. "I'll tell you one thing, it's a whole lot different from how I fight, that's for sure". Blake nodded.

"Then it's settled, Falcon and I will spar," and like that, she walked off to get ready. Falcon groaned in annoyance but decided to keep his friends happy.


	6. FHSI 6

**alrighty, the hiatus is over. I'm going back to weekly uploads starting now, I've just been very busy at work and also very lazy with this but we're here now, so enjoy.**

**Chapter 6**

Falcon fetched his quiver from his locker and worked on preparing himself for his battle. He was quite proud of the craftsmanship of his quiver. It was designed to hold hundreds of pencil-thin arrows, each made in his home kingdom of Atlas. He extended his staff and stood ready, waiting, observing. Blake walked into the arena and they shared a bow, before they both stood in a fighting stance. After about 15 seconds of just circling each other, Falcon noticed a bored yawn from one of the spectators who had chosen to watch, probably Hayate. Tired of waiting, Falcon transformed Avery in its bow form and started shooting at Blake, who dodged and returned fire. Falcon also dodged and quickly turned Avery back to staff to catch Blake's sword attack and push her back, he then twisted the staff and opened a small dust chamber in the centre of the staff, selected lightning dust, and then closed the chamber. Falcon then leapt at Blake using his staff to propel himself as she kept moving backwards. As he swung his staff around, it connected with Blake's torso, electrocuting her and sending her flying. As Blake regained her bearings, Falcon took this opportunity to fire more arrows, the first one hit, and at first Falcon thought the second did too. But it turned out to be a shadow clone of Blake. _She's using her semblance_ Falcon thought to himself, _as will I._ Falcon stomped his right foot on the ground, creating a 10 metre round golden glyph on the floor, with him in the middle. Hayate, and everyone else on the sidelines, had noticed that when Falcon lifted his head to put two arrows into his bow, his eyes were glowing fully golden. They watched as Falcon fired both arrows, the first causing Blake to use her semblance, and somehow Falcon had predicted where Blake would move to as the second arrow hit her right in the leg. Falcon kept firing arrows at Blake, some hitting her clones, some hitting her, all of them hitting something. Falcon quickly noticed that Blake was moving closer to him each time she used her semblance. Blake then got out Gambol Shroud and kept firing shots at Falcon. Using Avery he was able to block or dodge every shot, but this also prevented him from shooting, letting Blake get within melee range. He quickly switched Avery to staff form and blocked every single attack Blake threw at him. Despite his perfect blocking, he was still being pushed back without the chance to counter attack. It wasn't long before Blake had pushed him to the edge of the glyph and Falcon mentally swore. Falcon tried to move around Blake but she swung with her sword and pushed him out of the glyph, which vanished immediately, as did the golden glow of his eyes. She threw herself at him feet first and Falcon grunted in pain as her kick landed on his chest. He was too disorientated from being pushed out of the glyph to properly block, at least for now. Quickly getting to her feet, Blake then kicked him in the head, sending him stumbling again. Shaking his head to regain his bearings, he barely blocked her next attack, then jumped back a small distance to get breathing room. Falcon opened the chamber of his staff again and selected ice dust this time. He blocked Blake's attacks, landing some of his own, and then brought the staff down on her foot, freezing it in place. Blake threw a grappling hook over a pole in the roof and pulled herself up, smacking Falcon in the face with her frozen foot. Falcon rolled, steadied himself and then shot an arrow at Blake who made an ice clone of herself, and landed on the ground. Falcon then shot an arrow with a cord connected to it at the ice clone. It landed and he pulled the clone towards Blake, detached the cord and loaded another arrow. Blake dodged out of the way, then deflected the arrow using Gambol Shroud. However, Falcon had shot another arrow at her leg while she was distracted and the low shot knocked out the rest of her aura, bringing the match to an end. Falcon let out a breath of relief, Blake had been more challenging than he expected. He heard the applause from the spectating crowd and shook the tension out of his limbs. He walked over and helped Blake to her feet.

"That. Was. Amazing!" Ruby half-yelled. During the fight Ruby and Weiss had arrived at the arena and Iskandar and Yang had finished what they were doing.

"That was pretty impressive Falcon. You're getting good, we'll have to go a few rounds sometime. That semblance is a piece of work" added Hayate, eyeing Falcon up with new interest. Falcon put Avery on the hilt of his belt and adjusted his beret.

"Thanks guys, and if you were wondering Hayate, my semblance is Golden Eye. It allows me to hit almost any shot and block almost any attack." This got some awes from Yang and Ruby and a raised eyebrow from Hayate.

"I must say," began Weiss, "that glyph was quite remarkable." Falcon was a little shocked to hear what he assumed to be a compliment from a Schnee, but said nothing of it.

"I reckon you could stand your ground against Iskandar pretty well, come to think of it." said Yang. "I mean you did pretty well against me when we used to spar hand to hand." Falcon thought back to the few years prior to coming to Beacon. While his family was originally from Atlas, when he was 10 they decided Vale would be a better place to live due to… unforeseen events. So Falcon, his twin sister and his mother moved to Patch, where they met Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose and their father, Taiyang for the first time.

"We should hang out like that again sometime." replied Falcon.

"Speaking of hanging out," Ruby chimed in, "we were wondering if team FHSI would like to join us in going to Vale next week?" Falcon looked at two teammates, Hayate gave a thumbs up and Iskandar simply shrugged.

"Nothing better to do." he mumbled.

"Sure," Said Falcon, "Why not?"

"Then it's settled. Team FHSI will join team RWBY in Vale." said Weiss matter-of-factly. Falcon glanced at Hayate, who was now talking to Ruby. _Everything will be fine, _he thought. _What could possibly go wrong?_

**I'm sorry for two fight chapters back to back but I needed some filler because the next few chapters will be the end of vol 1. I'll start on vol 2 straight away, so there won't be a gap for you, the reader. But these next few chapters... oh boy. Also some feedback on the fight scenes would be nice, I'm not sure if I'm being descriptive enough to put the images in your heads.**


	7. FHSI 7

As teams FHSI and RWBY wandered through the streets of Vale, Falcon couldn't help but marvel at all the work that had been put into welcoming other schools for the Vytal Festival. As it would turn out, Weiss had similar thoughts, and was rambling on about how amazing it was, although Falcon wasn't actually listening to her. Hayate was looking around as well, seemingly taking in all the sights while he rested his hand on his sheathed sword. As he'd said the other day, he grew up on a small island, so big cities like this would be more interesting to him than most people. Iskandar and Syrian walked side by side, Syrian pointing out anything he found interesting and Iskandar responding with a noncommittal grunt.. It wasn't long before his eyes rested upon a dust shop just down the street. The others had all noticed it too and decided to go investigate. As they neared, Falcon could hear two officers talking to each other about how it was the second dust shop to be hit that week. "What do you think, White Fang?" one asked the other. Weiss let out a sigh.

"The White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates." Falcon noticed Iskandar tense behind him. He didn't know a lot about Iskandar, much like the rest of the team, but what Falcon knew for certain was that Iskandar hated the White Fang. He wasn't sure if the others had noticed, but Iskandar's symbol was, quite literally, a torn version of the White Fangs emblem. Falcon tuned back in from his inner thoughts only to hear Weiss and Blake bickering about how bad or misled the White Fang are.

_Weiss seems to have a real problem with the White Fang._ Falcon thought, his fists clenched by his side. _Or maybe it's just faunus in general._ Similarly to how Iskandar hated the White Fang, Falcon very strongly disliked Weiss, or more specifically, the Schnee family.. _My mother would call me out on that,_ he thought absentmindedly. _She always said I held onto grudges too much, especially against the Schnees_. When he first created his weapon, Avery, he refused to incorporate dust into the staff because he would have to go through the SDC to get it. Only when his mother insisted she get it for him did he give in.

"Hey! Stop that faunus!" Falcon turned to see a blonde haired monkey faunus running off a ship. As he ran past team FHSI and RWBY, Falcon noticed the faunus wink at Blake, causing her to blush slightly, something only Falcon noticed.

"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition and there it goes" said Yang.

"Quick, we have to observe him!" cried Weiss before running after him, quickly followed by Ruby, Blake and Yang.

"Well, I guess we should follow them." said Falcon.

"Doesn't seem like we do much else," Hayate replied casually as he began to follow the others.

As team FHSI rounded a corner it became apparent that they had lost team RWBY. However, Iskandar saw the faunus run by and started the chase. Falcon quickly caught up to the faunus as he started to slow down, clearly out of breath. "What… do you four… want?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"Good question." Hayate turned to Falcon. "What do we want?" he asked, having not really paid attention to why they wanted to chase him, only that they were.

"To observe him I think" Falcon replied. "Are you here for the Vytal Festival?"

"I am." the faunus replied, holding out a hand to Falcon. "I'm Sun Wukong, leader of team SSSN."

Falcon shook Sun's hand. "Falcon Hood, leader of team FHSI." As the others introduced themselves, Falcon took this time to analyze the faunus before him. He clearly wasn't afraid to show he was a faunus as he let his tail out freely, using at as a third arm almost. _Or maybe it's because he can't hide it _thought Falcon. _Not all faunus are as fortunate_. Falcon snapped out of his analytical state to ask Sun about the look he gave Blake earlier, but before he could, Sun was gone.

"Well, that's a disappearing act" Hayate commented, having moved to lean against a wall "I'm heading back to the dorm. Want to come with?"" Hayate received a nod from Syrian and Falcon and a "Yes, I have work to do" from Iskandar.

**X-X-X-X-X**

It was late at night and team FHSI were doing what they usually do at that hour, nothing. Iskandar was finishing up in the bathroom, Syrian had fallen asleep shirtless on his bed, Hayate was shadow sparring, without his sword this time as last time he actually did take the light out with it, and Falcon was sitting on his bed, sketchbook open in his lap, fuming. It usually didn't bother him, he had become so accustomed to being near Weiss that he just blocked her out, but this was different. Falcon had become quite good friends with Blake, meeting her in the library often just to sit quietly in each other's presence as they were the more reserved members of their respective teams. He'd taken to teaching her how to draw the characters she read about and in return she lent him some of her favourite books to read (he'd seen a copy of Ninja's of Love in her bag one time, but he'd wisely said nothing). Falcon was not happy with the things Weiss had said earlier that day, in fact, the faunus she had been so quick and rude to judge wasn't even that bad of a guy. Falcon looked up as he heard the sound of the bathroom door opening. Iskandar was someone who Falcon wasn't too fond of. While it was clear to him how much he hated the White Fang, for reasons Falcon wasn't sure of, he wasn't sure if Iskandar hated faunus in general. However, he hadn't made a move on Velvet or any other faunus.

_So maybe it is just White Fang affiliation._ Falcon theorised. He knew so little about his towering teammate, in fact he didn't know that much about any of his comrades. In the time they'd been at Beacon, they'd learned to fight together easily enough, but they hadn't really done much to build their trust and friendship. _A mistake I will have to correct_ Falcon declared internally, promising to himself. The quiet was broken when Falcon slammed his sketchbook closed, causing Syrian to stir. "I'm going to check on team RWBY." he said, before marching to the door. Hayate called Jetstream to his hand before standing. He'd gotten a lot more casual at just using his semblance around his team now, he reasoned that there wasn't much point in hiding it.

"I'll tag along. Something fun normally happens whenever we hang out with them" he quipped, following after his partner. Falcon questioned it internally, but said nothing.

As Falcon and Hayate neared Team RWBY's dorm, which was just down the hall from them, Falcon could hear arguing coming from the other side of the door. "You realize you are defending an organization that hates humanity don't you?"

_Weiss_ Falcon thought bitterly. No doubt the Schnee heiress was spouting off more racist statements that would make his blood boil. He looked at Hayate who had taken to standing just outside the door, barely standing apart from it. It seemed as though he'd had practice at listening through doorways, though Falcon wasn't going to assume what he'd picked up that skill for.

"The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" Weiss continued.

"There's no such thing as pure evil!" yelled Blake at her teammate. "Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you that force them to take such drastic measures!"

"Well, sounds like we came at a bad time" Hayate said quietly, moving a hand to the trigger of Blitz instinctively as he took a tiny step away from the door, but still being close enough to listen.

"People like me?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!" yelled Weiss. Falcon looked at Hayate again, who just shrugged, unsure of what to make of things.. Weiss then went on to say how her grandfather's company is a huge target for White Fang, and Falcon could understand her anger, but it earned little sympathy from him.

_I don't blame her for being weary. _Falcon thought to himself. _So am I, but I don't go around discriminating against humans! _Falcon had half a mind to barge in there and give Weiss a piece of his mind but before he could, he heard Blake again.

"Well maybe we were just tired of getting pushed around!"

Hayate looked at Falcon, "Wait we?" he asked. Before Falcon could reply the door exploded open and Blake flew past them. Hayate had managed to jump out of the way before Blake had slammed the door into him, but the shock was still in his eyes and he was in his quickdraw stance.

"Blake, come back!" Ruby yelled desperately.

"Falcon? Hayate? Why are you he-" Yang started but was cut off.

"Damn, she's fast. I'll go after her!" Hayate started and began to walk in the direction she'd gone. Falcon placed a hand on Hayates chest, stopping him.

"No." Falcon ordered. "I will." He leaned closer to Hayate. "Make sure Iskandar doesn't find out about this," he warned. Hayate rolled his eyes.

"You're the team leader, shouldn't you be the one to keep him in line?" he retorted, pushing against Falcon a bit. The bow wielder in question took a step back from the force, but planted his feet.

"Hayate. Make sure" he commanded simply, his tone indicating his mood. For a few tense seconds, it seemed as though they were going to engage in their own argument as they stared each other down, but Hayate simply sighed and walked off back to the dorm with noticeable annoyance in his movements, his hand still on Blitz's trigger. Falcon stared at his teammate for a few moments before adjusting his beret and running after Blake, leaving the three girls very confused in the hallway.

**X-X-X-X-X**

As Blake stood in Beacon's courtyard, a tear found its way down her cheek as she reached up and untied her bow, letting her cat ears out in the open.

"My suspicions were correct." came a voice from behind her. Blake turned around and saw Falcon standing there.

"Falcon, how did you..." she trailed off.

"Well," Falcon reached up and took the beret off his head, revealing a lone fox ear on the top right side of his head.

"It takes one to know one."

**Boom! that's right Falcon is a faunus, how will his team react to this and how will Iskandar react to Blake being ex-White Fang?... Don't worry I'm working on it**


	8. FHSI 8

It had been two days since Blake had run away, and her and Falcon were sitting in an old timber warehouse. It was the same warehouse that team FHSI had cleared Grimm out of a few weeks prior, only now, it was cold and quiet. Blake had wanted to go somewhere away from everyone and Falcon remembered the spot. They'd been hanging out in town for two days now, avoiding basically everybody. The two sat with their backs to one another, they had both since covered their ears again. Blake was reading a book and Falcon was sketching. Well, he was trying to, but his mind kept drifting to other things. He couldn't stop thinking about what Blake had told him. How she used to be White Fang, where she's from, and this mysterious man Blake refused to tell him more about or even name. Falcon had determined he must've been someone very close to her though, perhaps family or ex-lover. He found it odd really, that she would hide something from him now. _Maybe she doesn't trust me as much as I thought?_ wondered Falcon. Then again, he'd been keeping just as many secrets. She had told him her past, maybe it was time to tell her his past. Falcon opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Blake.

"I've told you my story" her amber eyes on Falcon, "What's yours?"

"I..." he began, before gazing at the floor Falcon wasn't sure if he should tell her. He hadn't told anyone his story or even about him being a faunus, not even his partner knew.

"I'm from Atlas." He began, Blake staring intently. "I always wanted to be a part of the Atlas Military and maybe someday become an Ace Operative. But…" Falcon choked on his tongue. He swallowed hard before continuing. "Things went wrong. They always did..." His tone had turned bitter towards the end.

"Falcon," Blake began, her voice quiet and soft. "What happened?" Falcon looked up at Blake with his golden-blue eyes, and found two amber ones staring back. They looked worried for him, and they were, Blake's voice confirmed that. Falcon laid his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He felt Blake rest a hand on her shoulder. That reassurance and warmth was what he needed right now.

"I'll tell you, but not here, not now."

**X-X-X-X-X**

It had been a few days since their leader had left and Iskandar wasn't happy about it. Hayate had come back from team RWBY's dorm alone and in a bad mood that hadn't left yet, and he refused to tell either of his teammates what had happened, so Iskandar decided to take it upon himself to find out. Hayate had left the dorm early in the morning as he had been recently, so after a quick chat with Syrian, Iskandar had left to search for Weiss. As he walked through the halls mentally reciting the dust he and Syrian needed, Iskandar's mind kept wandering. His team seemed to have a lot of secrets. Too many secrets for Iskandars liking. Falcon was always on edge, and playing with his beret, like he was hiding something. _Something physical_ Iskandar theorised. _Maybe scars?_ Then there was Hayate, who always seemed way too confident in himself, no matter the situation. _Definitely some emotional baggage with H,_ Iskandar thought. H is what he had started calling Hayate. In fact, most of the team referred to each other by the first letter of their names, though mostly in combat due to how long each of their names are. It had just come naturally because the four of them hardly spoke during battle, just focusing on getting the mission done. But then there was Syrian, Iskandar's partner. He had seen Syrian take interest in Falcon's drawings and spoke to Hayate a few times about the stars but he mainly only spoke to Iskandar and even then, it was never about himself. He showed a lot of interest in Iskandar, perhaps due to the fact they were partners. Syrian had tried to get Iskandar into meditating, but he had declined, worrying it would give him too much to think about his demons. A large part of why Iskandar remained always working, constantly training or studying. It was a distraction from his deeper thoughts. He had also declined a trip to the coffee shop Syrian always goes to in Vale, something Falcon had decided to accompany him on. Yet despite this, despite how different their interests are, Iskandar was always eager to talk to his friend.

Iskandar stopped in his tracks. _Friend._ That was the word that came to mind when he thought of Syrian. He was friends with Yang, but that was due to their sparring matches, they didn't do a lot together outside of the arena. Weiss was his friend too, but that was purely because of their high intellect and the fact that Iskandar relied on dust to fight, and Weiss was a direct way of getting it. But Iskandar didn't have a practical reason to be friends with Syrian, it had just come naturally. Iskandar shook his head and continued walking, reciting the list of dust he and his friend needed in his head. He had to find Weiss and then find Falcon.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Upon reaching Team RWBY's dorm, Iskandar knocked three times. Weiss answered the door. "Oh, hello Iskandar. I presume you are here for dust?" she asked. Iskandar simply nodded and followed her inside. Iskandar noticed Weiss was the only one here, the others were gone. "You're oddly quiet." Weiss stated, handing him his dust.

"Have you seen Falcon lately?" Iskandar asked. There was no concern or wonder in his voice, as if Falcon disappearing was a regular occurance.

"He chased after Blake a few days ago." Weiss started. "We found out she was a faunus and then ran away."

"Why would she run if she's only a faunus?" wondered Iskandar. Weiss' expression changed to a more disturbed one.

"She used to be a member of the White Fang. I don't get why she ran, she could've talked it out with us." Weiss brushed her hands off. Iskandar stood suddenly.

"The innocent never run" he said under his breath before walking out the door and taking off down the hall. Weiss was stunned, something must've happened between the two for him to run off like that. She then remembered what she heard Falcon tell Hayate when Blake ran. Her eyes widened and she grabbed her scroll and sent a text to Yang, Ruby and Hayate.

"He knows."


End file.
